“I had practically lost my motivation, but in Aragón we revolutionised our method, working on race strategy straight away”

Finally, Aprilia! In fact, on the Aragón track the RS-GP shone once again, managing to turn the page after a 2018 that has, up to this point, proved to be below expectations. The Motorland track restored a smile to the lips of Aleix Espargaró, who finished sixth behind Dani Pedrosa, the best result of the entire championship for the manufacturer from Noale.

“This 2018 has been a difficult year for all of us – Aleix began – but we continued to work, without ever giving up. I think that this result rewards the hard work of the team and everyone for their efforts.”

In fact, in Aragón, the RS-GP proved to be a distant relative of the bike we have grown accustomed to watching for some time now.

“Along with the team, we changed the balance of the bike – Aleix pointed out – From FP1 we worked differently, focusing straight away on race strategy,particularly on tyre choice. The tyres gave us a good feeling, especially today in the race.”

And to think that Aleix wanted to aim even higher.

“Personally, I am convinced that I had a few more cards to play in the battle with the Suzuki – he revealed – Unfortunately, however, I had to deal with Pedrosa and his Honda, which was really competitive on the straight and I struggled to maintain the pace.”

This performance in Aragón is a load off for the Spaniard.

“You can’t imagine how complicated it is to keep motivation high. At some points, I had even lost it – Espargaró commented – I worked harder than I ever have before for Aprilia, despite morale being low, since we continued to test without improving.I didn’t even sleep at night. In any case, I think that this result is helpful because it restored the enthusiasm of the entire team.”